A program that provides health insurance for more than 340,000 children in Florida might lose $7 billion dollars in funding. UCF professor of health management Meredith Robertson says without it, some children who are not covered by Medicaid, could lose their insurance. Read more at WMFE. (Note: The number of children impacted by changes to CHIP in Florida was corrected to 340,000.)

Nicklaus Children's Hospital, the only pediatric trauma center in Miami-Dade County, is suing the state to challenge a law that would permanently allow another hospital to operate a competing trauma center without having to undergo the same kind of scrutiny, saying that the competition could functionally put Nicklaus' facility out of business. [Source: Miami Herald]

Drug abuse in Florida by-the-numbers

With SAMHSA’s National Prevention Week in full swing and the Trump administration proposing harsher penalties for drug offenders, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on the States with the Biggest Drug Problems in 2018 to highlight the areas that stand to be most affected. [Source: Florida Trend]

A new app that connects patients with a doctor through text messaging launched on May 1st and is now available to patients in 11 states including Florida. Currently all of 98point6's doctors are based in the Seattle headquarters, but he said each physician is licensed to practice medicine in all 11 states where they currently operate. [Source: CNBC]

'Ending the Silence' gives voice to mental health issues in Florida

During May, which is Mental Health Month, NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Florida and its 26 statewide affiliates are creating a dialogue around a mental health awareness program called Ending the Silence. Florida's 67 district school superintendents held a mental health summit last week to address student mental health care. [Source: Fort Myers News-Press]

› Central Florida medical tech firm to compete for cash[Orlando Sentinel] A Central Florida medical tech company is in line to win a part of $50,000 in cash prizes that will be awarded during a venture capital conference in Tampa. The company will present to a panel of judges on Friday, May 18, at the 2018 Florida Early Stage Angel Capital Conference.

› Redner vows to take medical marijuana fight to Florida Supreme Court[Health News Florida] Tampa strip club owner and cancer patient Joe Redner is vowing to take his fight to grow medical marijuana for his personal use to the Florida Supreme Court. Earlier this month, an appeals court sided with the state Department of Health and temporarily blocked Redner, 77, from growing marijuana.